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Police: Officer-Involved Shooting In Minneapolis

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Police are investigating an officer-involved shooting on the corner of Franklin Avenue East and Lyndale Avenue South in Minneapolis.

Police Inspector Kris Arneson said the Minneapolis Police Department responded to a fight in the area around 9 a.m. Sunday. A woman was allegedly being accosted by a male suspect and called 911.

When the officer arrived on scene, a man and woman were in the middle of an argument. As the officer approached the two, the man pulled out a knife and began threatening the officer.

The officer called for assistance and gave verbal commands for the suspect to drop the knife. The man refused and the officer began to retreat from the man, across two lanes of traffic.
The man followed the officer and continued to refuse to follow orders, so the officer shot him.

“Our officer doesn’t have the luxury of waiting until someone gets hurt,” said Bill Palmer, of the Minneapolis Police Department.

He was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center in an unknown condition. Police say it is likely he will survive.
He has been identified as 43-year-old Robert John Yellow Wolf.
The officer, a 24-year veteran of the department, was not injured.

“You can’t take a knife and brandish it at an officer any more than you can brandish a firearm,” said Sgt. Palmer. “What happened, today, was an officer had to stop a threat.”

A number of people in the area witnessed the incident and are being interviewed by police. A parallel investigation into this incident is being conducted by the Minneapolis Police Department’s Internal Affairs Units.

Traffic had been blocked off in the area while crews assessed the scene but it has since been reopened.

The officer has been placed on three-day administrative leave pending the investigation. He will be identified Monday.